Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Above) Cannichael is currently fourth in points. (Left) After backto-back wins, Yamaha's David Vuillemin squeaked on to the podium, finishing third. Joining LaRocco in the sick ward was Ward. The tall South Carolinian raced against were Suzuki's Damon Huffman and Honda's Sebastien cracked two ribs and damaged his shoulder two weeks ago at the San Diego Supercross and hasn't been able to train since. In order to ride, he Tortelli. Mostly they were strung out, although they'd occasionally hook up in pairs. Huffman was chasing Windham for eighth when the checkered needs both injections and medication. Even though he was in a position to get third or fourth, his body wouldn't flag fell, but he knew that a bad start had killed him. "I didn't gate very good: he said after taking ninth ahead of Tortelli. "I came out outside the top 10. You just can't make it happen coming from let him. "Of course, I want to do better, but at the start I'm still weak and those guys are riding tough," Ward said after taking sixth. "I'm struggling riding here a little bit now, and not being able to ride during the week and test is hurting me, so I rode as hard as I could. I'm still not the smoothest rider on the track, but I gave 100 percent. All day, through practice and everything, I've been having problems." rThere was a group of riders all fighting for spots in the bottom half of the top 10. Honda's Kevin Windham and Ferry both made it as high as sixth, with Windham ending up seventh on the day and Ferry fading to behind. You definitely need to get up front right away. I rode behind LaRocco most of the race. Early on, 1 had a bout with a few guys and then LaRocco kind of spun out and got up right in front of me. My problem this year has been in the main event, not getting up front at the beginning. Everybody's just too good to make up 10 seconds on them." Behind Tortelli came Ferry, then Team Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's ~ohn Dowd, with Great Lakes Aviation's Heath Voss the first privateer in 12th. eN 10th with arm pump. Windham felt he was "a little less than stellar," and said that he wasn't consistently fast throughout the race. Houston Astradome Housllln, Texas Results: February 5, 2000 (Round 5 of 1 &J 2S0 HEAT I (8 laps, 1-4 transfer to main): I. David Vuillemin (Yam); 2. Sebastien Tortelli (Hon); 3. Mike laRocco (Hon); 4. Brock SelJards (Hon): 5. Damon Huffman (Suz); 6. John Dowd (Kaw); 7. Kyle Lewis (Suz): 8. Michllel Craig (Yam); 9. Jean· Sebastien Roy (Hon); 10. Shayne King (KTM); J l. Ferry's was a long night. He led the second heat, only to suffer a broken master cylinder on his rear brake. He pulled over and let the fast guys through, then made his way into the second semi, which he won handily. In the final Ferry made it up to sixth Grayson Goodman (Hon); 12. Jason Thomas (Yam); 13. Adam Land (Hon); 14. Jeff Hedden (Kaw): 15. Ronnie Ramiscal (Hon); 16. Chris Shellenberger (Hon): 17. Chris Craft (Gas): 18. Ted Campbell (Suz); 19. Michael Fontenot (Hon). Time: 7 min.• 36.850 sec. 250 HEAT 2 (8 laps, )·4 transfer to main): 1. Jeremy McGrath (Y8m): 2. Ricky Cllrmichael (KllW); 3. Kevin Windhllm (Hon); 4. Greg Albertyn (Suz); 5. Lorry Ward (Kaw): 6. Timmy Ferry (Yam); 7. Heath Voss (Hon); 8. Cory Beuder (Yllm); 9. Jason Frenette (Yam): 10. Ty Kady (SUl): 11. Zeb Armstrong (Yam): 12. Todd Downs (Hon): 13. Kyle Williams (Kaw): 14. Jon Hedden (KTM); 15. Kevin Hall Jr. (SUl): 16. Shay Manney (Yam); 17. Malt Karlsen (Yam): 18. Austin Squires (KTM): 19. Todd Robertson (Yam). Time: 7 min., 27.300 sec. 250 SEMI 1 (6 laps, 1-5 transfer to main): l. Damon Huffman (Suz); 2. Kyle Lewis (SU1); 3. John Dowd (Kaw); 4. Micheel Craig (Yam); 5. Jeen on the 13th lap before his arms failed him. It's a new problem, one, which he's noticed in the past month, and one, which was evident in Phoenix a week earlier. "I had the same problem last week and I was leading," Ferry said after dropping to 1Oth. The riders Ferry and Windham 8 FEBRUARY 16. 2000' cue • e n e .... s Sebastien Roy (Hon); 6. Shayne King (KTM); 7. Greyson Goodman (Hon); 8. Jason Thomas (Yam); 9. Adam Lend (Hon); 10. Ronnie Remiseel (Hon); 11. Chris Shellenberger (Hon): 12. Chris Crea (Gas); 13. Jeff Hedden (Kaw): 14. Ted Campbell (SUl): 15. Micheel Fontenot (Hon). Time: 5 min. 48.090 sec. 250 SEMJ 2 (6 laps. 1·5 transfer to main): I. Tim Ferry (Yam): 2. Larry Werd (Kaw); 3. Heath Voss (Hon): 4. Austin Squires (KTM): 5. Ty Kady (SU1); 6. Jllson Frenette (Yam); 7. Kyle Williams (Kaw): 8. Matt Karlsen (Yam): 9. Jon Hedden (KTM): 10. Zeb Armstrong (Yam): II. Kevin Hall (SUl): 12. Shay Manney (Yam): 13. Todd Robertson (Yam): 14. Cory Beuder (Yam); 15. Todd Downs (Hon). Time: 5 min.. 45.780 sec. 250 LAST-CHANCE QUALIFIER (4 laps, 1-2 transfer to main): 1. Shayne King (KTM): 2. Jason Thomas (Yam); 3. Grayson Goodmen (Hon): 4. Jason Frenette (Yam); 5. Jeff Hedden (Kaw); 6. Matt Klirisen (Yam); 7. Zeb Armstrong (Yam): 8. Kevin Hall (SUl): 9. Adam Land (Hon): 10.Kyle Williams (Kaw); 11. Ronnie Ramiscel (Hon): 12. Shay Manney (Yam); 13. Todd Robertson (Yam): 14. Chris Shellenberger (Hon); 15. Chris Craft (Gas); 16. Jon Hedden (KTM): 17. Cory Bauder (Yam): 18. Ted Campbell (SUl): 19. Todd Downs (Hon): 20. Michael Fontenot (Hon). Time: 6 min., 1590 sec. 250 MAIN (20 laps): I. Jeremy McGrath (Yam): 2. Ricky Carmichael (Kaw); 3. Devid VuilJemin (Yam); 4. Greg Albertyn (SU1): 5. Mike LaRocco (Hon); 6. Larry Ward (Kaw): 7. Kevin Windham (Hon); 8. Damon Huffman (Suz): 9. Sebastien Tortelli (Hon): 10. Tim Ferry (Yam): II. John Dowd (Kaw): 12. Heath Voss (Hon); Brock Sellards (Hon): 14. Kyle Lewis (SU1): 15. Michael Creig (Yem); 16. Jason Thomas (Yam): 17. Shayne King (KTM): 18. JeanSebastien Roy (Hon): 19. Ty Kady (Suz): 20. Austin Squires (KTM). lime: 18 min., 45.710 sec. Winner's Average Lap: 56.285 sec. .Margin of Victory: 7.006 sec. 250cc AMAlEA SPORTS SUPERCROSS SERIES POINT STANDINGS (After 5 of 16 rounds): 1. Jeremy McGrath (115/3 wins); 2. David VuiJIemin (108/2): 3. Mike LoRocco (98): 4. Rkky Carmichael (84); 5. Kevin Windham (80); 6. Sebastien Tortelli (71): 7. Greg Albertyn (61): 8. John Dowd (57): 9. Tim Ferry (57): 10. Damon Huffman (56): 11. Lorry Ward (48): 12. Brock Sellards (44): 13. Stephane Roncada (34); 14. Jimmy Button (29): 15. Heath Voss (28): 16. Tyler Evans (24): 17. Kyle Lewis (18): 18. Nicholas Wey (17); 19. Jean-Sebastien Roy (15); 20. Shayne Kin9 (10). KTM JR. SX CHALLENGE: I. Raimundo Sanchez: 2. Dillon Van Way: 3. Collin Gee; 4. Thomas Bankheed: 5. Jeremy Dominque: 6. Trent Boudoin; 7. Skylar Phillips; 8. Cody Braswell: 9. Travis Price: 10. Garret Crawford: 11. Dustin Fooshee: 12. Justin Mortenson; 13. Miss Gage lbeck; 14. Joey Tracy. Upcoming Rounds: Round 6 - Indianapolis, Indiana, February 12 Round 7 - Pontiac, Michigan, February 19 Four weeks after crashing in practice at the opening round of the AMAlEA Sports Supercross Series at Anaheim, Honda's Ezra Lusk returned to the racetrack, but only as a spectator. The 24-year-old Georgian came to the Astrodome to show some support. "I wanted to just be here for the guys and see if we can get it going a little better than it's going right now," he said. Lusk said that watching wasn't hard. "I knew that was what happened, and it happened for a reason, and I can only make myself better from it and look forward to the outdoor season and next year." The injuries sustained in the crash were a chipped bone in his left shoulder socket and collateral ligament damage_ The original prognosis was that he'd be out of action for three months, which meant that he'd be shooting for a retum in the 250cc outdoors. "It's coming along good," Lusk said of his rehab. "I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. I'm taking it like I'm supposed to. I'm not trying to rush it. I'm doing everything I'm told to do. Just wait it out and doing what I have to do to be ready for the outdoors." Though he has a limited range of motion in his left arm, Lusk Ezra Luu: Showing has been able to work on his lower body strength. riding an exercise bike and lifting leg weights, under the supervision of a train- _su~ppo.:.._rt. _ er. "I'm doing a little bit now just to stay in shape," he said. "Most important is to get back and get my upper body stronger than it was." Four weeks after the accident, Lusk knows he can't risk reinjuring the healing arm. "I can't do stuff that's going to risk popping it back out right now. The ligament came off the bone and any time a ligament comes off the bone it's real prone to coming out really easy. But we have all that fixed. They're expecting 100-percent recovery. "I was told from the day it happened, [it would take] three months [to heal]. But I think it'll be a little bit sooner than that if I wanted it to be. We're just going to wait. I'll definitely be ready for the outdoors." As for how the Honda team is doing, Lusk observed, "Everything is going good. The guys are picking up the pace; they're all looking really good. I just think you have to be perfect. You can race good in practice and be the fastest guy out there, but when the main event comes around that's the only thing people are going to remember. And there's only a couple of guys putting it together in the main event."

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